Welcome to my first "CoachMe Nuggets" Issue. I hope you will enjoy the reading. Feel free to pass it on to your friends, family or co-workers.

SMILE IF YOU ARE A HAPPY PERSON

What does it take to be a happy person? Why are so many people unhappy?

Ask yourself, "Am I truly a happy person?" Oh yes! I can think of moments in my life when I was real happy. The problem is that this happy stuff never seems to last. So, I would ask myself: "Why can't I be happy with myself at all times?"

How do I know if I am truly happy? I might be fooling myself in pretending to be happy. Well let’s find out. Ready?

In the following Satisfaction Rating Scale, rate the degree in which the following four “Health and Wellness” categories most accurately describe you:(0 = extremely unsatisfied, 10 = extremely satisfied)

(The GOAL is to hit 32 and better)
A score of 16 and lower may indicate symptoms of depression. For further assessment, I encourage you to complete the following scale: depression screening test.

OBSTACLES THAT CAN HINDER YOUR HAPPINESS?

1. Lack of knowledge regarding your health and wellness needs. You don't fully understanding what your body needs in order to maintain ultimate happiness. You are uncertain on the approach or method.

2. Lack of life skills or poor life skills – such as poor communication skills, poor conflict resolution skills, poor emotional management skills, poor self-care skills.

3. Poor decision making skills – for example, the use of alcohol or drugs to sooth emotional conflicts.

4. Believe that money, power, getting even, fame, other people, leisure, being a religious person or success will lead to happiness.

1. Recognize that you have four important health and wellness needs that need your constant attention: your spiritual SQ, your physical PQ, your emotional EQ and your intellectual IQ.

2. Know how to take care of your four health and wellness needs.

   Intellectually, most of us are satisfied with our IQ health and wellness. Our society is doing a great job in helping us nurture our intellectual person. We are blessed with many great schools that help us develop this area.

   Physically, much attention is given to healthy eating and good physical fitness. Many people love sports and are involved in some type of physical activity. The question we often hear; "Are you taking care of your body or your physical needs?"

   Emotionally, we are starting to recognize that our emtional health and wellness is as important as the other three needs. However, we still have a long ways to go. As a society, we have given little attention to the importance of educating and excersising our EQ, “emotional intelligence”. Have you ever heard someone say; “I am taking a course in emotions 101 or emotions 102?”

   You see, we are all well trained in the IQ skills arena. Yet, we still only spend a very small fraction of time developing our EQ skills.

   Where would I find an EQ courses? Unless you’re in the counselling field, study emotional science or are a self-learner in the field, your EQ will stay under developed.

   Spirituality, are you working as hard in raising your SQ “spiritual intelligence”, as you are working your IQ? Most people ignore to develop this muscle. When you ignore your spiritual muscle, your spiritual body stays under developed, frail and de-energized.

3. Create and maintain a work/life balance. This is very important. Every part of life needs to be balanced. The same as car tires need balancing for a smooth ride, so does life need balancing for a smoother journey.

4. Be solution focused, not problem focused. Become good at solving problems in all areas of life. You’ll notice that after awhile you start to feel happier and happier. You might ask yourself how is this possible. Well, it gets easily. The more problems you solve the more you win in life. And we all love to win.

So, there you have it, use your 4 keys to keep your 4 Qs happy.

Make sure to watch for my next "CoachMe Nugget": How to sharpen your EQ – Emotional Intelligence.

PS. I would love to hear from you; your thoughts, comments, experiences, ideas or whatever is on your mind. Feel free to share this nugget with anyone you love.

If you have a topic you would like me to write on, sent me an email.